Adventures

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Writing Advice (2): Write What you Love

WRITING ADVICE FROM A NOVICE WRITER:

I love YA books. I love to read them. I love to write them. I love to blog about them. Occasionally, I will pretend that I can get into another genre, but that rarely lasts longer than one book until I've come crawling back to my YA world. I used to shy away from overly gushing about the books I read. Until one day I realized something, it didn't matter if other people would love them too...I loved them. And when it comes to committing to our passions, it should not be about what other people think or prefer. It is about you.

When I first started writing a few years ago, my older sister made me promise that I would never write a book about vampires. At the time, I told her I wouldn't. Then I read Richelle Mead's series, The Vampire Academy. After finishing the six book series (which you all must read--see, gushing because of the mere fact I love it!), I went to a coffee shop and suddenly a story, about vampires, started pouring out of me. It has been one of the easiest books for me to write. Okay, by saying this, I make no attempt to tell you that it is good. But, I love to write it. I find the plot and characters addicting. It is close to finished, and I'm actually kind of proud of it.

No what I don't love to write? Poetry. I'm a crap poet. My brain doesn't think that way. So guess what I don't write? Oh, you've got it... Poetry. Nor would I ever attempt to write a work of non-fiction. I will also probably steer clear of anything to do with sports, clowns, nascar, and horticulture.

I love to write romance, but I make a point of keeping the story from crossing the line between sentimental into sappy. This is easier said than done, but I would like to avoid anything that would make readers (myself included) roll our eyes and jab a finger down our throats in a gagging motion.

All this to say to readers, writers, and dreamers out there...don't write something just because you think it would be popular. Write it because that is what you want to write. Write it because that is the story in your heart that needs to be told. Write it because you simply cannot eat, sleep or think of anything else until this story has gotten its chance to live. Write it without fear that people might ridicule it. Because they might. But only once we've learned to write for ourselves can we then learn to write for others (I have no idea what that means, but I thought I would go with it).

We are all different. So be different. Write what you love in order to love what you write.